field trip: the vintage bazaar

 

Saturday I took a road trip with my BFF Cindy to The Vintage Bazaar held at Pettengill Farm in Salisbury, Massachusetts. The fair featured 175+ vendors selling antique and vintage finds and re-purposed goods. Lucky Cindy won us a pair of tickets from Coastal Windows & Exteriors!

with Matthew Mead, Danielle Driscoll, and "Urnie"

Topping my reasons for wanting to attend were seeing and supporting friendors {new word alert: friendors = friends who are vendors!} Matthew and Jenny Mead and Danielle Driscoll.

Matthew Mead's signature style of collections grouped by color made for a display worthy of one of his publications. In addition to being a vendor, Matthew was a special guest and did a series of demos on creating summer centerpieces. Alongside Matthew was his partner in crime, Jenny.

Photo credit: Danielle Driscoll

Danielle and Luke Driscoll's Finding Silver Pennies booth was like a beautiful coastal furnishings store. Visit this link to read Danielle's account of the weekend on her blog.

The bazaar was nicely done and reminded me of a mini Country Living Fair.

Cari Cucksey and Joanne Palmisano were also special guests on-hand to give demos and share tips.

There was live music, rows of food trucks and cool things all around!

I had a nice time despite a series of mishaps which included tripping over a food truck's cable and falling to the ground, hitting my head on a low-hanging window display, and losing an earring (which as it turns out, Jenny found)!

Besides leaving with my ankle swollen to the size of a tennis ball from my fall (I'm okay), I returned home with this pretty framed paint-by-number of yellow roses for the Girlie Office

and this lovely vintage jadeite plant pot from Matthew, among a couple of other little things.

If all this sounds like a good time to you, The Vintage Bazaar returns in September and November!

Just wear good footwear and watch for exposed cables.

Happy summer wishes!

xo
elyse

a fête for fifi to celebrate prairie-style weddings!

 

Just about a month ago, I had the honor of co-hosting a truly lovely event with my friend and frequent collaborator Nancy Chace, owner of Sea Rose Cottage: a celebration of Fifi O'Neill's newest book Prairie-Style Weddings.

Me, Fifi and Nancy

The idea was the brainchild of Nancy's, who brought the idea to Blithewold Mansion, Gardens and Arboretum in her home town of Bristol, Rhode Island. Before long a date was set and the wheels were in motion.

Nancy and I each took on different tasks so that all Fifi would need to do was bring her sweet self and a pen!

I always like the idea of SWAG bags and so we put out a call to action on social media and were so happy with the generous response!

Prairie Pouches from Sew Extra-Ordinary Sewist

Beautifully wrapped bracelets from Chanel's Shabby Rose

Appliques from Efex U.S.A.

Lovely lavender sachets (more like pillows!) from Vintage Lizzie

Lots of little extras from Blithewold!

In addition to bag-fillers, artisans offered their time, efforts and supplies to make our event extra special...

Carol Riley of Bristol-Cottage created this lovely wedding dress inspired by the book

A make-and-take table of vintage supplies from Hearts of Assemblage

Julie Christina of Blithewold added her special touches to the celebration with an elegant selection of nibbles and sips...

Cucumber sandwiches with fresh dill, a simple cake turned stunning with raspberries, lemonade-pomegranate punch served in a flipped cake pedestal! I proclaim raspberries are the glitter of the fruit world! They elevate anything to swoonworthy!

Nancy gave dollar store frames a quick coat of paint and propped them in easels to post collages of book images at related stations throughout the venue. Genius!

It was one of those rare occasions that went even better than planned!

Cocktail napkins from Oriental Trading

Thank you to the fabulous Fifi for being such a mentor to me; she demonstrates such a pay-it-forward, gracious, love what you do life, and I'm so happy to have her as my Fairygodmother. Thank you Nancy, my co-host and pal in this and upcoming projects. It's nice to have friends that are as crazybusy as yourself (and still willing to take on more despite the restriction of 24 hours in a day)! Thank you to our many sponsors, attendees and well-wishers near and far. To The Providence Journal for the great press. To Julie and her team at Blithewold (rhymes with "old") for making elegance look effortless and to Allan Millora Photography for these stunning photos!

Um, I think I've covered everything! If not, there's always the Edit Post button.

Happy June wishes!

xo
elyse